Updates Saturdays. Big Island Rachel's blog updates Sundays and Wednesdays and my Tumblr updates daily. I host a radio show called the Rodent Hour on Pratt Radio, Tuesdays from 8 to 10PM EST.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Wildstorm gets the ax from DC

Looks like I started this blog just in time: Wildstorm, a comic book publisher under the DC umbrella, just announced today that it will shut down at the end of the year. From the article:

"After taking the comics scene by storm nearly 20 years ago, the WildStorm Universe titles will end this December. In this soft marketplace, these characters need a break to regroup and redefine what made them once unique and cutting edge. While these will be the final issues published under the WildStorm imprint, it will not be the last we will see of many of these heroes. We, along with Geoff Johns, have a lot of exciting plans for these amazing characters, so stay tuned. Going forward, WildStorm’s licensed titles and kids comics will now be published under the DC banner."

Wildstorm has the only comic book titles that I read and follow in real time, going to my local comic book store to pick up the monthlies as soon as they hit the racks. So this bums me out.

There is hope: DC says they may bring some of the heroes over to the regular DC titles. But I'm wary of this because the Wildstorm heroes are--well, they're satires and parodies of mainstream heroes: more violent, less moral, historically more likely to be censored by the publishers. That's their appeal, and in Wildstorm's heyday, this formula produced some of the most original comics out there. Planetary and The Authority are considered two of the best comics of the 2000s.

I'll be getting into all of that and more in the coming weeks between now and New York Comic Con (my ticket's sitting on my desk!) in my new series, "Remembering Wildstorm."

Oh yes, puny humans. Big Island Rachel will be writing about comics. On the blog she specifically started to write about comics. Do you tremble? You should.